[MR] Ignorant Question

[David W. James]

On Friday, August 23, 2002, at 09:03 AM, Hank Harwell wrote:
> In my Everyday Life, I work with a national organization that has 
> several
> smaller groups.  Each smaller groups pays what is termed "support
> service" to the larger group over it, all the way to the national 
> office.
>  This support service pays for the upkeep and operation of each larger
> office.

> My question is this:  Do the kingdoms pay a "support service" or
> "franchise fee" annually to the Corporation?  My understanding is that
> this would be compensation for affiliating with the Corporation and
> therefore receiving the benefits of the name, SCA, Inc. and the
> privileges of accessing things like the 501 (c) status and group
> insurance rates, etc.

	The answer, as usual, is yes and no.

	This is a variation on one of the two alternative methods of funding 
the corporation that I mentioned during the meeting.  My question was if 
the Board had considered a 'franchise' fee schedule for *groups* (not 
just the Kingdoms.)  Members of the Board replied that they wanted to 
avoid the idea of a 'tax' on groups, and so had considered and rejected 
that idea.

	The exception lies in the case of Lochac, which is a kingdom with 
its own separate corporation.  The SCAAustralia pays a fee to the US 
corporation annually based on their membership number(s), rather than 
SCAA members paying a fee directly to the SCA, Inc.

	So, yes, they have considered it, and no, they haven't seriously 
considered it for implementation in the USA (Canada and Europe I can't 
speak to...)

David/Kwellend-Njal